MAP testing actively harms our school system and provides no real benefit.
It really is about how awful the test is.

http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com…
http://conceptualmath.org/misc/testshort…

They can take our tests ....

But they can never take our FREEDOM!

Goldy, you nailed it. It is about respect.

And the fact is: the business people pushing Corporate Ed Reform in this town do not respect teachers. Oh, they may like them and praise them, but they don't respect them.

Spend five minutes in a meeting of the fake "Our Schools Coalition" (it isn't a coalition. it is actually the League of Education, which is fueled by Gates Foundation Reformista $$$) or with the powerpoint set at The Alliance for Education, whose "CEO" Sara Morris pushes hard-core teacher test criteria at every opportunity, and you'll see the non-respect in action.

These are the people talking to our electeds at the state and local levels. Teachers really need to start standing up for themselves and talking back. They are the experts. The bulk of the public will back them.

This is a major issue. I've been teaching pretty much since the reform movement started, and every two years or so its been more and more mandates from above and less and less teacher-driven decision making. The MAP test is only one of many of these top-down mandated reforms that have taken time, power and respect from teachers.

One of the core goals of the Education Reform movement is to de-professionalize teaching. That way they can justify replacing teachers with unqualified Teach for America corps members, videos, or software. And that will achieve four goals: diminish the power of the Democratic party, diminish the quality and effectiveness of our public schools and promote privatization, create profits for software makers, and reduce costs and taxes for rich people. It's not about serving students; Education Reform is about money for millionaires.

Ed Deform is all about creating compliant workers and union busting. Kill the creativity and the GOP gets its less educated working class while the wealthy kids get well-rounded educations at their private schools that in many states are now being funded by taxpayer dollars via tax credit and voucher schemes.